A few days late but....

Finnegan Reid: A toddler

Dear Doozer MacGee,

Wow. I can NOT believe a whole year has gone by since you joined me and Daddy, making us a little family. It seems like such a short time ago I was snuggling your little peanut body close to my chest while you slept all day. And now you can walk by my side, hardly even wanting to hold my hand. But even though you have such a strong independent streak, you still come back to me (and Daddy too) when you need a little help or want some reassuring hugs. You are quite the little man.

This past weekend we had a BIG birthday party for you. It was not the small, at-home party we had wanted for you, but you had tons of fun so it was okay in the end. You got to hang out with all your little cousins and your little friend Ethan came too. You gave out lots of hugs and smooches to them all. You're such an affectionate boy. When it came time for your own cake (which I had painstakingly made the night before), we stripped you down, waiting for you to go crazy with the smashing. Instead you were your typical polite self, and only poked at the icing with your finger. A few times Nana tried jamming your hands into the cake, but you would just lick the icing off and then go back to your single finger prodding. With your table of presents you were more interested in the packages than the gifts. Much like Christmas. Shortly after we made a hasty exit because in all the excitement you had refused to eat. You were getting crabby, so you and I came home, you had some milk and we took all your new toys out of their boxes. Your favorite is an activity table from Nana and Pap. My favorite was the big stack of books from Kelli and Mike and their kids. Of course you like those too, and I'm sure we'll have lots of fun reading them before bed this week. Also this weekend you got your first real haircut. You were so well behaved for the barber. You just sat on Daddy's lap and looked at yourself in the mirror while the barber snipped away your shaggy baby locks. When he was done, I got a little teary-eyed when I saw the little boy left behind. Definitely not the face of a baby anymore.

Speaking of sleeping, this past month you have been kind of terrible when it comes to staying asleep at night. Usually we get you down with little problem, but then you toss and turn, kick and twist all night. You fuss and whine and roll all about. And for the life of me, we can not figure out what is going on with you. We keep passing it off as your teeth (where are they, by the way?) or a growth spurt, but it's hard to know what's really going on. When we realized you have a sensitivity to oats and cut them out of your diet I thought the wiggling and squiggling would get better. But so far, its gotten worse (although your gassiness has subsided. No cheerios for you.) The only other diet related problem I can come up with is your switch to milk. But you're fine with it all day long and have no problem laying completely still for naps. So how that could be the cause of your nighttime shennanigans is beyond me. I'm hoping to pick up some raw milk this weekend from a local farm and see if that helps you. I'm crossing my fingers that it does, because we (you included) could all use a decent night's sleep.

All your moving and shaking at night though, pales in comparison to your activity during the day. How quickly you've gone from 4 steps, to 10 steps to walking the entire way around the house without help. You even walked along with me whiel we went shopping the other day (that is until you shook off my hand and took off grabbing everything in sight). And you're trying out more words every day. So far you can say:

• Dog
• PupPup
• Duck
• MumMum
• Dada
• Nana
• Pap
• Mike
• Moe
• Poop
• Num num
• Button (you've only said it once though)
• Baba (bottle)
• Belly Button (bell-buhn)
• Sound of the doggy (arf arf!)
• Sound of the ducks (dududududuck!)
• Sound of ducks sleeping (snoring noise)
• Sound of butterfly (a-la-la-la-la while you wiggle your hand like a butterfly)
• Sound of muscle man (you flex your arms and grunts)
• Sound of cow (oooooo! You just learned that this morning and can't seem to put the M on the beginning)
• Sound of cars and trucks (rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

And recently you've taken to using ANYTHING as a phone. You'll hold your phone (or puzzle piece, or fork, or car or stuffed toy) up to your ear and babble on like you're talking to someone. It's super funny. When you do it in public you have everyone in stitches. Especially after you look at them like "Uh, I'm on the phone, do you mind?". Also you've been trying to dress yourself, which is quite cute. You'll grab a sock and hold it by your feet and wiggle your toes as if it's somehow going to get on your foot. You do the same thing with your pants too. And you get quite upset if I or Daddy tries to help you. You even tried to put my slippers onto my feet this morning. You like to play with everyone's shoes and even try to put them onto your feet. You also like to try on everything and everything as a hat. Your potty, a bib, a burp cloth, a basket, a diaper...if you can pick it up, you've tried to wear it as a hat. You're such a comedian. You contsantly have us laughing with the silly things you do. You amaze me and Daddy every single day. It has been so great to be able to spend everyday with you this past year, watching you grow and learn and change and become this beautiful little boy that you are. I can't wait to see who you become over the next year.

Love, love, love,

MumMum